I’ve been using Premiere since 1994 on top of everything else.
I have never had an app delete my files on me, heck not even FCPX 🙂
Chances are its a drive issue.
So sorry you had to go through this.
Def a teachable experience.
Always backup.
I have so many different experiences from Avid to Resolve as far as backing up files.
They all have their issues but never ever has any app decide to kill any project of mine…knock on wood 🙂